SwanBy: Frances Mayes A haunting southern tale of long buried family secrets by the New York Times bestselling author of Under the Tuscan Sun and Under Magnolia In her celebrated memoirs of life in Tuscany, Frances Mayes writes masterfully about people in a powerful and shaping place. In Swan, her first novel, she has created an equally intimate world, rich with striking characters and intriguing twists of fate, that hearkens back to her southern roots.